By Kyle Roberts
Dr. Navneet Sharma of Green Clinic is passionate about both medical education and bringing (and keeping) physicians to Lincoln Parish.
Enter the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM), which recently opened its fourth medical school campus — this one at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
VCOM trains students to become osteopathic physicians, differing slightly from allopathic medicine by providing additional training in osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) to go along with conventional medical education. Osteopathic medicine emphasizes a patient centered approach, focusing on the interconnectedness of the mind, body, and spirit.
And the best part for Sharma? His efforts will see the third and fourth year students begin to do rotations right here in Ruston in Green Clinic.
“This area has had difficulty recruiting physicians, particularly in the more rural areas,” Sharma said. “And one of the purposes in the VCOM mission statement is actually to help fill the gap and recruit physicials to these areas.
“VCOM is important to this area because it helps us keep those physicians here. In fact, some of the medical students have already expressed the desire the stay and be primary care doctors in these areas where they already are.”
Medical education at VCOM is structured into two distinct phases. The first two years, known as the “didactic” phase, focus on foundational medical sciences and clinical medicine coursework, covering subjects like anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and pathology. Students also gain early clinical exposure through simulation labs and standardized patient interactions. During these years, students spend significant time in the anatomy lab and in weekly Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM) labs to enhance their clinical skills and OMT skills.
The second phase consists of clinical rotations during the third and fourth years. Students from the Monroe campus complete core rotations in various medical disciplines at clinical sites across Louisiana, including Ruston. Third-year students undertake rotations in family medicine, rural medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery. The fourth year allows for greater flexibility, with elective rotations tailored to the students’ desired specialties for residency.
Sharma see these students doing their rotations in Ruston as a boon for the local economy as 15-20 full-time medical students would reside in Ruston. Sharma and his students have also published several papers that have been presented at different medical conferences and various medical journals.
But for Sharma, the most important impact is the retention of physicians for an underserved population and area.
“If we can get a medical resident, they tend to stay in the same place because the residency is sort of an employment already for a four-year period,” Sharma said. “Chances are good they will stay here in the area and provide services after residency training.”
Sharma serves as the medical director for the student medical education for Ruston and has worked diligently to categorize it as a core site for the VCOM medical school. A designated core site implies that all third year core rotations are available at a single site and can host students at a full time basis.
Because Green Clinic offers an extensive area of subspecialties, fourth year medical students will also have an opportunity to rotate with hard to obtain rotations in medical specialties such as rheumatology, dermatology, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery, urology, cardiology and physical medicine to name a few.
The original VCOM campus was established at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., followed by campuses in Auburn, Ala., and Spartanburg, S.C.
